WEBVTT
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A weekend getaway is planned, with the finale being a
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marriage proposal. But a ghostly apparition has other plans for
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you and your honey. They're not about sight seeing or
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taking selfies. No, no, he has more dastardly plans in mind,
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and he brought his axe. What's that You want to
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be scared? Come with me. He will experience tales over opera,
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ghosts and death. He is not recommended at the foot
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a week at hard listeners in the dark, it's more
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fun at that way. Way. This is Weekly Speaking. Hello,
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my spooky is It's Wednesday, and you know what that means.
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It's time for a little spooky in your weekly. I'm,
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of course your host and narrator Enrique Kuto, and tonight's
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storm is truly a chilling one of the ghostly variety.
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And who doesn't love a good ghost story, Especially in
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the dead of summer as the sun burns hot, you
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need something to chill you to the bone. But before
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we get to that, I just want to simply say
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thank you so much for joining us tonight. If you're
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listening to this, you're a year round spooky. You don't
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need it to be October to want to have a
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little fear in your ear. I'm one and the same,
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so I'm happy to have you here. I also want
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to remind you you can email me at Weekly Spooky
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at gmail dot com whether to make a story request
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to our authors or maybe even submit your very own story.
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We'd love to hear from you at Weekly Spooky at
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gmail dot com. In fact, Tonight's story is written by
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Bruce Haney, and Bruce was originally a fan who wrote
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in and now he's one of our favorite authors. So
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don't hesitate to reach out. And if you love what
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we do here and want to help us keep it
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going and going and going, and get bonus episodes and
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free audiobooks in the process, head to Weeklyspooky dot com
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and click on Patreon. For as little as one dollar
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a month, you get two bonus shows, a series that
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is a part of Patreon exclusive audiobooks written by Rob Fields,
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the Man of Strickfield himself. But my friends, I think
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it's about time we head to the Pacific Northwest for
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a little camping trip and hopefully we survive. Right after
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these quick words twenty two minutes by Bruce Haney, just
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stay calm, Laura. We have an officer dispatch that should
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arrive in twenty two minutes. The male dispatcher told me
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on the phone. Okay, I thought, I just need to
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stay alive for twenty two minutes. How hard could that be? Well,
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it would be tough because I had the ghost of
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a lumberjack with an axe trying to find me, and
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I was hiding at a ranger station that was just
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an old, single wide trailer. The ironic thing was that
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the place was stocked with plenty of food and provisions
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in case someone got stuck out here during the winter.
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But I didn't need food. The only revision I needed
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was an oozy. I wasn't hanging out there waiting for
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the weather to clear. It was august. I was trying
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to last twenty two minutes. Well, looking at my watch,
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now only twenty minutes best case scenario. So far. I
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hadn't heard any sign of him since I entered the trailer,
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but about five minutes ago I was running away after
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watching him smash my fiance's face in with his axe.
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Please lose all hope that this story ends with me
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finding out that the wounds were superficial and he survives
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and we have a beautiful wedding not gonna happen. I
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watched as he took his axe and made what was
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once such a beautiful face with perfect teeth in his
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cute little dimples that only appeared when he smiled. And
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watched it turned into ground beef, well ground beef with
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chunks of skull and teeth mixed in with extra ketchup
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on top. How long now? I asked the nine one
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one operator, who I still had on the phone. Can
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I get your ETA officer? Thirty four to fifty seven,
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he asked. I couldn't hear the officer's response, Yeah, uh huh, yep, okay, miss,
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looks like fifteen to twenty minutes until he arrives. He said,
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you made it sound like you knew the time to
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the minute. I yelled, which was a mistake, not because
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it upset the operator. No, he kept as cool. But
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a moment after my outburst, I heard the sound of
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the axe hitting a tree in the distance. The time
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I gave you was always an estimate. He did state
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that he is making good time, but it all depends
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on traffic, he said, calmly traffic. Isn't that why they
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have those flashing lights on top of their car. I
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was frustrated, but tried not to raise my voice. Boom,
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I heard the axe being slammed into another tree. It
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sounded nearer. What was this thing? I wondered when I
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found this trail. On the trail app, I didn't see
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any watch out for the one hundred year old ghost
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of a lumberjack notes. All it said was that a
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Bobcat was cited four years ago. I brought bear mace
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for that. Also side note, if you ever get into
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this situation, bear mace does not work on ghosts. I
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know who would even think to try that, but I did.
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It seems dumb, but as part of the scientific process,
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we can now rule out pepper spray as having any
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effect on ghosts. You're welcome the field of parapsychology research.
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I looked at my watch. I didn't want to ask
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the operator again. It had been about six minutes now
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since the original estimate, so best case scenario, I would
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only have to survive another sixteen minutes. Are you still there?
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The operator asked yes. I said, what is happening? The
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operator asked nothing. Just trying not to lose my mind
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in fear as the minutes to my safety slowly tick away.
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I said, well, we have the time, so explain to
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me again what happened. The operator asked, I don't want to.
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I said, it'll help, It'll kill time, and we will
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have a record of it, so you won't have to
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repeat the story right away after the officer arrives. From
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the beginning, I asked, sure, The operator said, with fifteen
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minutes left. I started my story. Alan and I had
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been dating for the last two years and we had
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finally decided that we should get engaged. We acted like
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I didn't know it was going to happen, but we
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had looked at rings together and we had planned this trip.
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Soon after, I chose the perfect one boom the crack
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of the axe hitting another tree. It startled me so
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so badly that I peed a little. It sounded closer
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than I wanted to admit to myself. Before continuing my story,
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I moved into the one room with a door, hoping
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that it would damper the sound of my voice as
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I talked. Still there, the operator asked, yes, I said, continue,
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time is still passing, they said, I looked at my clock,
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only fourteen minutes. Now I can do this. So we
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planned this trip This trail didn't have much to it
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except that it had a nice incline and supposedly had
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the remains of an old logging camp. I had seen
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pictures in the app of down trees, cables, and a
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large steam donkey. Typically, I would think this stuff would
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have been taken by scrappers. But being that we are
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in the Pacific Northwest, the ground is fairly soft most
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of the year from all the rain. Add a large
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incline to that, and you have scrap that's not worth
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the effort to the scrapper. But now I wonder if
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there was maybe another reason that the remnants remained. The
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coolest feature was an old abandoned steam donkey that was
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left up there. My father's father and his father were
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all in the logging industry, so I had a deep
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interest in that history. Boom, I heard and felt the
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axe slam into the side of the old trailer. What
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was that? The operator asked, in a volume outside of
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his usual calm demeanor. Sh he's attacking the trailer, I said,
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as quietly as I could while still being audible. Boom
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I heard once again on a different spot in the trailer.
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It wasn't closer to my location, so I hoped he
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didn't know exactly where I was in the single wide.
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I looked at my watch, thirteen minutes left. While I
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sat in silence, I thought about those last happy moments.
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After we had arrived at the abandoned lumber camp. I
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had been pointing out all the rigging and how it
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was used. Alan was a city kid and knew nothing
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about the lumber industry, or even the woods for that matter.
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When we started dating. As soon as I felt that
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he was safe, I started planning hiking trips for us
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instead of traditional dates. What is that, my soon to
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be fiance had asked, when he spotted the steam donkey.
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I can't believe this was left out here. This is
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so cool. I saw it restored one of these in
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action at the Timber festival in Estakata one year. I
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told him, yeah, but what is it? He asked. It's
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basically a winch, but steam powered. I told him, hey,
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take a photo of me in front of it for
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the socials I had asked him instead of taking my photo,
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he turned on the video function on his phone. Then
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he knew and started his speech. I was worried that
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the quality of the video wasn't going to be great.
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It was starting to get dark, but I wasn't going
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to interrupt him. I figure, I'll let him finish, then
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we can set up the tent. My dearest Laura, these
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last two years have been such a joy with you.
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I never want this time to end, he said, before
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being interrupted by the sound of an axe hitting a tree.
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What was that, I asked, Alan was a perpetual optimist.
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Probably just somebody chopping wood for a campfire, he said,
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in the middle of August during a fireban, I asked.
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A moment later, we spotted the man coming through the clearing.
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It was fascinating at first he was there, but also
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not there. I thought to myself, Wow, unsolved mysteries and
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are you afraid of the dark? Had it right? Ghosts
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were semi translucent, bluish pale figures. His clothes were period
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specific to the early part of the last century, leather
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boots and loose fitting pants held up with leather suspenders.
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He wore a dingy, long sleeved white shirt that appeared
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to be covered in dirt and dried blood. Once he
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spotted us, he headed in our direction. Alan, like I said,
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was an optimist, so He tried to speak to it
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like it wasn't clearly a ghost. Howdy out getting some firewood,
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Alan asked. Then the ghost slammed the axe into his face.
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Without even thinking, I pulled out the bear spray and
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shot the ghost in the face. It didn't respond in
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any way. I ran as quickly as I could, knowing
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that it was too late for Alan. The last image
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I have of Alan is when I looked back. He
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was on the ground with his hand up, still clutching
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the ring, my ring, the ring that symbolized a future
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we would now never have. Then the axe came down
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on his face again and the arm went limp and
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fell to the ground. Boom boom, boom fuck. The banging
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startled me and I stopped telling the story for a moment.
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Then I heard the unmistakable sound of the door being opened.
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It dragged on the floor from years of weather damage.
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Then what happened? The operator asked, sh he's too close.
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We have to be quiet, I told the operator, fearing
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that the ghost would hear his voice. The room I
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was in had a window, but it had bars, so
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it was not an escape route. I continued to listen
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and worry as I heard his footsteps walking on the floor.
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Thankfully the operator had taken the command to be quiet seriously.
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I could hear him breathe, so I knew he was
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still on the line. So I checked my watch. Nine minutes,
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just enough time for this spectral logger to chop me
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into tiny little pieces. What do I do? What do
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I do? I kept asking myself. I looked around the room,
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but there was nothing that would work as a weapon.
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I mean almost nothing. There was a porcelain lamp, which
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wouldn't do much, a notepad, and an old school phone book.
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I grabbed the phone book. It was a County edition,
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so it had some heft to it. I might be
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able to slow him down with it if I get
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a good hit in. I heard the floorboards creak as
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his footsteps approached the door to the room I was in. Well,
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I thought the moment of truth. I held my breath
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as I watched the knob turn. I didn't even attempt
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to hide. All that would do is put me in
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a vulnerable spot. When he found me, the door flew
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open and he stormed in. I took my yellow pages
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and slammed it through his head. Let me explain. I
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don't mean so hard that it smashed his skull and
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went through it. I mean I swung and it went
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through like nothing. Bullshit, I screamed. He can affect solid
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things well enough to kill the love of my life,
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but he's not solid enough for me to do anything.
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That thought train stopped when he swung the axe at
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my chest. Instinctually, I held the phone book in the way,
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which worked great as a makeshift shield. He snarled at me.
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I dropped down on my knees and ran under his
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legs to get away. I could have probably run right
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through him, but I didn't like the idea of that.
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Being that silence didn't seem to be a big deal anymore.
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The operator. OK are you okay? No, I screamed. He
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should be there soon, the officer. The officer said, in
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his typical calm voice. My watch told me I had
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six more minutes. Okay, okay, you can do this, I said,